The Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) was born in 1917, three years into the First World War. After some terrible losses, the navy was short of sailors – sailors actually at sea in any case. The Admiralty decided to recruit 3,000 women to ‘Free a man for sea service’. Divisions of the WRNS or Wrens sprang up in naval towns such as Bristol, Chatham and Portsmouth, where male recruits were particularly needed.

The women were restricted to domestic tasks at first, replacing male cooks for example. In some cases there were women already working for the Royal Navy recruited into the WRNS. They were placed under the command of the WRNS’ first director, Katherine Furse, a former director of the Voluntary Aid Detachment, an organisation attached to the army that had sent female nurses to tend wounded soldiers. By the end of the First World War, the role of the Wrens had expanded to a limited extent with the women also working as telegraphers, electricians and code breakers. Their numbers had also swollen beyond expectation with over 5000 ratings and 500 officers.

Women's war work office

The Royal Navy was the first of the armed services to officially recruit women; the success of the idea was quickly clear and the WRAF (Women’s Royal Air Force) and the WAACS (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps) were formed shortly after. It was never felt, however, that these services would have a permanent role. The Wrens were disbanded at the end of the First World War in October 1919 without establishing a reserve force. It was only through the efforts of Katherine Furse that the Association of Wrens was founded in 1920.

Despite the unpromising end to the first incarnation of the service, the Wrens were very quickly reformed at the start of World War Two. Many of the new recruits were in fact the previous Wrens re-enlisting. By the end of September 1939 there were 160,000 Wrens serving, by December of the same year this figure had almost tripled. Training for the Wrens involved a two-week introduction to naval terminology and a lot of scrubbing and cleaning. They used naval terminology throughout their service, even if they never went to sea. They were ranked as ‘ratings’ or officers, slept in ‘cabins’, went ‘ashore’ for leave and cooked in ‘galleys’.

Quickly the old problems of manpower shortages occurred again and the women found themselves filling more varied roles in the Navy. Despite there still being the usual muttering about what constituted suitable work for a woman, the Wrens found jobs as Bomb Range Markers and Radio Mechanics. Nearly 85% of staff at the British Code-breaking centre, Bletchley Park, were women and at each of the outposts around the country there were generally about 1000 Wrens and 80 RAF technicians. Many Wrens served overseas at foreign bases, particularly in logistical roles. At the service’s peak (September 1944) there were over 74,000 women enrolled.

Could a Wren go to sea? At first it was believed that a woman’s role should remain as freeing a man for active service. The Women’s Royal Naval Service wanted more. There were certainly women with experience at sea, for example one of the service’s Directors, Mrs Laughton-Matthews trained as a Sea Ranger in Portsmouth. Wrens had also assisted with training exercises for the regular Navy during the battle for the Atlantic. As early as the end of 1940 women were drilling as boat crews in the harbours of the south coast. Despite the Admiralty’s protestations that it was impossible to equip fighting vessels to accommodate women, eventually some Wrens did go to sea for the service. A very few women served as stokers and coxswains whilst others served as code-breakers in trans-Atlantic convoys. On her way to Gibralter in a convoy, the SS Aguila was sunk in a U-boat attack on the 19th August 1941. 22 Wrens died aboard her.

After the Second World War in 1947 the Women’s Royal Naval Service was made permanent. Although the numbers of Wrens were reduced back to 3000 their role remained much the same until the mid 1970’s. In 1977 the WRNS was brought under the Naval Discipline Act. This had the dual effect of formalising the WRNS as part of the Royal Navy and also opening up far more career opportunities for the women. The difference could even be seen in language, women no longer enrolled, they enlisted. The service became increasingly indistinguishable from the regular navy until eventually it was disbanded in 1993. In 1994 the first women began full service aboard Naval vessels. Except on board submarines, the modern Royal Navy offers women exactly the same opportunities as men.

Nursing in the Royal Navy

Womens Royal Naval Service

War brides